Workshop on Social Responsibility of Higher Education, Community Engagement & Local Knowledge of Santali Community

A two day workshop was held on 31^st March- 1^st April at SKMU on the theme Social Responsibility of Higher Education, Community Engagement & Local Knowledge of Santali Community in partnership with PRADAN. The workshop was attended by 174 participants including the PG level students and faculty from across the different affiliated colleges at SKMU. In a session titled National & International Perspectives & Policies on Social Responsibility of HEIs, Dr. Rajesh Tandon spoke about the three foundational pillars of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 that provides a particular relevance to ‘inclusion’ in HE. Our higher education system should be such that it enables and include these people in the framework of lifelong learning. They need to come back to learning which is determined by their own interests and their contexts.

Referring to the recommendations of the UNESCO Experts Group on SDG’s and HEIs, he said there is need for stronger and continuous engagement of the societal actors such as the communities, the industries, the local governments and so on. Our engagement with the societal actors shifts our focus to societal challenges and opportunities. Therefore, the learning in HE begins to move towards finding solutions and innovations for the same. We must understand that knowledge also resides in sites other than HEIs such as the community, local organisations, in farmer groups, in women groups and in particularly in our indigenous and tribal communities throughout the country. The Expert Group has recommended fostering epistemic dialogue and not limiting ourselves to the epistemology of modern science.

This recommendation also resonates with the recent UNESCO recommendation on Open Science where UNESCO is appealing to us to bring in multiple ways of knowing – knowing from experience, knowing from practice, knowledge derived from generations of practice, knowledge in the communities. The other recommendation is the inter and trans disciplinary ways of producing and teaching knowledge. We need to find ways by which students of engineering, for instance, can interact on issues of sociology, community development and vice versa. Local knowledge, as we all know, resides in local culture, language and practices. Therefore, one of the critical issues in ‘inclusion’, going forward, will be to find ways to learn from local culture and practices and integrate the same in our curriculum. 

In the second session of the workshop, researchers[1] from PRADAN along with five young field researchers[2] from community in Chakai presented the findings and impact of the CHIRAG[3] project with the teachers and students at SKMU. CHIRAG worked to co-produce knowledge with indigenous communities in Eastern India for the attainment of sustainable food systems, from production to consumption. Using a range of participatory and other communicative practices with different age-groups amongst the tribal communities such as Santals (Chakai block in Jamui district of Bihar), Kui and Desias (Koraput and Kandhamal districts of Odisha), they tried to identify the factors obstructing food and nutrition security in these communities and set up a dialogue with local communities to find solutions. CHIRAG adopted a twin approach of participatory approach: in-person creative practices and digital platforms.

The discussion on Day 1 led to a brainstorming session on day 2 of the workshop where the students and faculties from different affiliated colleges, belonging to diverse disciplines at SKMU, were divided into groups to identify the emerging issues in the community. The discussion revealed several potential areas of research such as food, nutrition, agriculture, water, arts, culture, architecture. Further issues like livelihood, education, health facilities, infra­ structure, law and justice, land tenancy, migration etc., help to provide an entry point for discussions and dialogue. The voices and experiences of the students and the faculty members of the SKMU were manifestations of some critical emerging issues and an analysis of the same which will lead to future action plan.

From the discussion it emerged that there is a need to harvest the indigenous knowledge of the Santal community for entrepreneurship while maintaining/ retaining the intellectual property rights within the community. The discussion was within a participatory research perspective/ framework as it enabled them to value their knowledge and ability to reflect on their social reality and devise strategies for their own development. The broad approach is that of participatory research wherein emphasis is on doing research 'with' people rather than 'on' or 'for' people, with the purpose of undertaking/promoting action or intervention in the future. This is based on an understanding that each individual is capable of critical reflection and analysis and this knowledge is both essential and valuable in any research, educational or developmental intervention. As such, knowledge is generated through a process of collective investigation and analysis and there is a deliberate attempt to promote future action.

[1] Arundhita Bhanjdeo (Researcher at PRADAN), Dr. Imran Amin (Associate Professor at G.D. Goenka University), Shuvojit Chakraborty (Researcher at PRADAN)

[2] Atul Purty, Anshum Mishra, Suboni Besra, Kavita Marandi, Motilala Hasda, Teresa taruna Murmu and Kusum Hasda

[3] CHIRAG (Creative Hub for Innovation & Reciprocal Research & Action for Gender Equality), the project on Sustainable Food Systems is committed to build a proof of concept for upscaling community led knowledge and innovation. The objective is to address issues on food and nutrition insecurity in India, a problem faced by a vast majority of women and children, especially from rural and indigenous communities.